One of my favourite sporting memories of the past five years was traveling to Albury to watch my Sea Eagles play the Raiders in 2015.
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The match was played over Easter weekend, so my wife and I decided to make a weekend of it.
While the match didn’t go to plan for myself (Canberra won 29-16), what happened afterwards is what has stuck in my mind.
We decided to have dinner at an Irish pub just around the corner from our hotel on the Saturday evening.
When we got there, the place was full of people wearing Raiders or Sea Eagles jerseys.
It struck me at that stage just how important this event was to the Albury-Wodonga community.
There wouldn’t be a hotel in town that wouldn’t be booked out, and local businesses would all see an uptick in profits over said weekend.
Which brings me to my question: Why can’t the Eurobodalla host something similar?
Now to be fair, the game in Albury was a regular season NRL game, which is probably a bridge too far for our region at this stage.
Having said that, I think we do have an opportunity to draw an elite sporting event in some capacity.
The NRL plays preseason games every season, and in recent years teams have tended to take some games to regional areas. Super Rugby has also been known to do the same.
We have some great sporting facilities in the Eurobodalla that would be ready to host such an event.
Mackay Park has shown in the recent past that it can host a big sporting event (September’s Aboriginal Rugby League Knockout).
It’s also currently getting a surface upgrade, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Ack Weyman Oval also has fantastic facilities, and could probably hold more spectators out of the two options.
Both ovals also have the necessary space to cater for food carts, merchandise kiosks, or whatever other service people will bring to the event.
From a community perspective, the impact of having an elite sporting event would be immense.
There wouldn’t be a hotel in town that wouldn’t be booked out, and local businesses would all see an uptick in profits over said weekend.
But perhaps most importantly, it would give out young athletes a chance to be around an elite sporting outfit as they make decisions that could potentially shape their sporting future.
It doesn’t even have to be a match either. Imagine the impact a week-long training camp would have on the community.
And wouldn’t there be something cool about seeing a professional footy player walking down main street?
In the end, I think with the right selling point, and the support of council and local clubs, we could persuade an NRL (or Super Rugby) club to bring an event to the region.
Because let’s be honest, what’s the worst that could happen?
